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My Skincare Routine

Your skin is the largest and one of the most important organs on your body so it only makes sense to take care of it just like you would exercise your muscles and eat well to promote better function of your insides. I don't have perfect skin, but one thing I've learned is that taking care of your skin today can help reduce chances of scarring or blemishes tomorrow.

Here's my current skincare regimen and how I modify it to target a variety of different skin issues.

Because I have rather sensitive and acne-prone skin which has a tendency to hyperpigmentation, I frequently modify my routine to adjust to my skin's personality that day. Obviously everyone's skin is going to be different and the exact products that work on me may not work for you, but with the hope that it might be helpful as a general guideline, here are my routines categorized by skin condition.

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BAD ACNE/OILY SKIN DAYS

When my skin is particularly broken out or oily, I like to break it down to just the basics, plus an acne fighter.

On occasion, typically when I haven't exfoliated in a while, my skin will become slightly rougher and tougher. These are the occasions when I make sure to add in the deep-cleansing steps. After exfoliating, I load up on the skincare goodies because exfoliation helps products to absorb into the skin better.

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Wow, that's a lot of different products on your skin. Do you find that it helps with the sensitive breakouts? I also have asian, sensitive, hyperpigmentation skin, and used to use a lot of products. After visiting a few different dermatologists, they all recommended that I pull back on products, because it was disturbing the phd layer on my skin, making my skin over compensate and taking away the top skin layer immunity.

As a result, what I've found to work was: Morning/Night Cleanser: Purpose http://popsu.gr/nPhL

Face Brush: Bass Face Brush, these are so good, I bought two of them! I also have a Clarisonic Mia, but after using the Bass Face Brush, I stopped using the MIA and only use the Face Brush. Personally, I find it more effective, and more cost effective: http://popsu.gr/nPgX

Winter Moisturizer: If my skin gets really dry from the NYC winters, I will pad on a little La Prarie Eye Sculpting cream along my cheekbones and under eyes. But be careful, this stuff is SUPER rich, and too much will make you break out because it is so dense, so a TINIEST bit goes a long way: http://popsu.gr/nPhw

I've been using this for almost 1 years, haven't deviated from it and hands down it is my holy grail routine. I've stopped breaking out completely, and my old acne scars are all almost gone, and my sensitive skin has really calmed down. My skin now glows and everyone asks what I do.

My dermatologist says, the less I mess with my skin, the more chance it has of healing itself, and I'm really starting to believe that!

Thanks for sharing your products! I'll definitely have to check out some of the things you mentioned in my next round of skincare searches. :)

I agree that less is more! When everything is written out (including skincare brushes, exfoliators, etc) it seems like a complicated process but most days, I stick with face wash, essence, and moisturizer. LA air is really dry so I found the essence has been helping to balance my skin so much better than just the moisturizer itself.

I'm always testing new products due to the nature of my job, but I try to be really consistent with my skincare because I know I can rely on it when I do get sensitive breakouts. It helps to calm everything down. :)

You are totally right, LA air is pretty dry and I totally see why a combination of items is needed to balance out the skin. I often travel there for work, I have to battle dry recycled air from the plane, ontop of LA air. Yikes! Thanks for listing everything you used, its always insightful to see what other gals have in their skincare reseal so we can all help each other out! :)

Personally, I'd recommend Body Shop Vitamin E eye cream. I travel a bit for work, and always keep this little tube in my travel kit. It doesn't work wonders by any means, but it is gentle enough to not irritate my skin, and does a decent job with hydration. It's simple, basic, but effective.

It actually faded with time. I'm guessing I had some sort of lip trauma which made it appear one day randomly and it stayed for about 7 years. I was shocked when it started fading pretty quickly (within half a year) until it was completely gone! Pretty strange!

I've only had personal success getting them professionally removed/extracted by an esthetician, unfortunately! There are topical things you can do, but it's essentially burning off the bump so I'd much more trust a pro around the sensitive eye area.

My routine used to be extremely long and extensive, and I've actually cut down on the amount of products I use daily/nightly over the last few years because of how my skin has been acting T^T I was using prescribed acne face wash, and have been weening off of it over the last year and half (haven't been able to get to the derm Dr, and not very much of a budget for that at the moment), and have actually started trying a brand called Acure that I found at my local organic foods store (Marlene's in the Pacific Northwest). I have been using their cleansers, which are really gentle, no artificial fillers, paraben free etc. and it's worked fairly nicely. Keeps my skin clean but not so clean that my skin is dried out or tight. I have also been using Acure's Seriously Firming serum and it helps with scarring ^^b I also use jojoba and grape seed oil as moisturizers all year around. I use Burt's Bees Tomato toner off and on depending on how my skin is acting. I guess I layer a lot of oils into my skin and it's kept nicely hydrated. ^__^ I also like to use specialty treatment products for pampering every now and again like sheet masks from My Beauty Diary and FaceQ. I also really like Laniege Water sleeping pack for the really dry days. I always wake up with nicely hydrated and plump skin the next morning. :3

Hey Jen! I'm a younger viewer of yours (a freshman in high school) and I'm looking for good skincare products. Do you have any recommendations for affordable products that suit sensitive skin? Thanks! :) xo

I'm not sure if the products are exactly the same now, but I used to use Clean & Clear's cream cleanser which is nice because it isn't too drying. Neutrogena's alcohol free toner is also good, and Eucerin's Everyday Protection SPF30 facial lotion. Hope that helps! :)

Hi Jen! Thanks for sharing your update skin care routine. :)actually my skin condition pretty much same with you. I got acne all year long, different is i live in tropical yet dry country, so most of the time i'm struggling finding good oil free moisturizer. Poor me my choice always "hit"my acne prone skin badly. i'm eyeing that clinique moisture surge intense that you mention, but there's several type for this cream, which one the oil free type you mean?

Anyway i'm agreed that using essence somehow keep your skin balance than only use moisturizer, is there any substitute for that SKII on your recommendation , cause SKII kinda pricy for me >.<thanks! :D

The Clinique moisturizer one you want is Moisture Surge Intense. It comes in a pink tub, but if you are uncertain I have the exact links in the blog post so you can compare & make sure it's the right one. :)

For essence, you can use one from any brand. Here's the Sephora page of skin treatments: face serums. I really like the one from Estee Lauder and Lancome has ones that work for a few of my friends. :)

Hi Jen! (hehe we have the same name)I was wondering if you think it is worth my money to buy the Clarisonic Mia , i have a pretty good skin (only blackhead around my nose and some bumps around my jaw line).. do you think the Clarisonic will do something for me?Thank you! :D

I really love using my Clarisonic! As a fair warning, some people experience a bit of purging (acne coming to the surface from the extra exfoliation) at first so if you buy one, just use it once every other day or so and increase use as you get used to it. Even now I only use it 2-3 times per week. Since you already have pretty good skin I would use it but don't overdo it. :)

hi, just to share, it's kinda recommended to first put on the eye product before the face products as the size of the molecules of face products are bigger than the ones for eyes. Thus when u apply your face products first, you don't know how much residual on your fingers are transferring to your eyes.

Hey Jen, have you tried Konjac sponges? I just started using the Boscia one, and my skin feels baby soft. My pores are a lot smaller, and my skin is less oily. Maybe you can review it when you get a chance.

The PMD definitely helps a lot with lightening scars but one topical product I like is Mario Badescu Vitamin C serum. Make sure you also are wearing a good facial sunscreen everyday to prevent darkening of scars as well!

안녕하세요 Jen!First off, I love watching your videos because it caters to the monolided girls such as myself and has helped much with my self-esteem!Second, I'm a college sophomore and about 6 months ago I had a reasonably nice complexion with just the occasional pimple here and there. However, suddenly (and seriously, suddenly) I have cystic acne all over my cheeks and now I have very irritated skin... with scars covering my cheeks and soon my forehead... I've seen your heart to heart videos about your acne struggle and I was wondering if microdermabrasion would help with clogged pores as well as acne scars (pits, hyperpigmentaiton, the whole package...).This sudden change has thrown my self esteem and I just need some advice from a person who has around the same skin tone, type, and complexion! (:

first of all, thank you for all your sharing and effort you put in every video! it really is fun and helpfull to watch, since I am also Asian and have a similar skin condition :) I also have my problems with this sensitive combination skin, but I found my solution, since I started to change my lifestyle once in a while2 years ago I got curious and had my first fasting cure. I managed 7 days and had to only let organic stuff on and into my body. it was an eye-opening experience (sadly I didnt save any money, since the juices and teas did cost me a fortune) skin care was also a big topic, so I got myself organic beauty products from the German Label Dr. Hauschka and Martina Gebhard. My skin never had been so good and healthy!How bout you? wanna try going organic? its a big step, and I know, that its not easy to stop eating and only drink for days.. but its worth it and you can always stop. Dr. Hauschka follows an own way of beauty: reactivating the healing power from your skin and not layering all those products ontop (your skin then tends to forget how to take care of itself and becomes addicted to the products).Make Up is no problem: a lot of korean mu's are organic and effordable (Innisfree)

I'd really love to know your experiences! so if you wanna give it a try.. *go go go*

btw: I did stop to use all those products at night, I wash my face with a gentle product, then pad some tonic/herb water on it, no rich hydrating cream, only a hint of eye cream, and then go to bed.after 2 weeks my skin has become smooth and far better

I know: stress is what gets me every time. And healthy diet is such an essential factor for overall health, not only skincare. I would add to the above that it’s important to understand what skincare products are truly important among the noise of advertising and brands pushing their products. I posted a good article on Sulia about this recently. Thanks for reading! skin care

I've been a long time viewer of your blog, but never leave any comments. However, I felt compelled to tell you about some of the bad press Mario Badescu is facing right now. I've been a long time loyal customer of MB, until recently when I found out that they use steriods (without listing them in the ingredients list). I've been using their Healing Cream for over 10 yrs! I can't say if they do this with all of their products, but the Control Cream is another one suspected of containing strong steriods, you can find discussions on it on the products Amazon page as well.

News of Korea FDA pulling the product off the shelf: http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20121217000978

Hi Jen! All of your tutorials have been great help and especially this one specifically on how to take care of the skin so much. The products you use seem really great since they work so well for you however I live in Pakistan and most of these products, actually none of these products are available. The best we have is a legit Body shop which i absolutely love! I've bought all my makeup products, right down to the very last lipstick, from there. We do have a lot of other companies as well but Body Shop has suited me pretty okay so far. Do you suggest that I continue using it? Or should i reach out to other companies? and if so then which ones are good?

If you've found a brand that works really well with your skin then I'd say stick to it! Everyone has different skin and different products work on different people. Feel free to explore but that's awesome you found a company that you love! ^_^

Hi Jen! I'm a bit confused. For exfoliating and masks, I was told it was 1-2 times per week, is that correct? In regards to the mask, where in the regimen do you use it? I saw that you posted as step 6 after putting everything on. Some people were telling me that using a mask should be done after cleansing and then after the mask, put on all the toners, serum, moisturizers and eye cream...

Hi Sandy! Any kind of serious exfoliation should be done about once a week or twice if you feel your skin is very rough at the time. If I use a mask it's right after washing my face but before moisturizing/serums... I should've clarified that in the post! ;)

Just to trade secrets with you, do try 3M pimple patch (http://www.makeupalley.com/product/x_showreview.asp?ItemId=112871&3M---Nexcare-Acne-Patch&Unlisted-Brand&Treatments) for white heads. They are awesome as they draw the gunk out of ur skin when you sleep, especially the nasty ones which are embedded deep within the skin. I use it often to reduce pimple swelling and lighten the nasty red/brownish residue spots.

Thanks for sharing your skincare routine, and for being so honest about your previous difficulties, although I think your skin has always looked gorgeous! Finding skincare products that work can be a lot of trial and error so it’s always great to hear other people’s recommendations. I definitely have minor scarring and pigmentation due to past skin troubles,for this i use Dermology anti aging solution and its fade them on my face.

hi, just to share, it's kinda recommended to first put on the eye product before the face products as the size of the molecules of face products are bigger than the ones for eyes. Thus when u apply your face products first, you don't know how much residual on your fingers are transferring to your eyes.Ruby

About me

Hi, I'm Jen! I've been blogging and making youtube videos since 2008 and have loved encouraging others to feel beautiful in their own skin ever since. I hope you enjoy my beauty tips and reviews, style inspiration, and a bit of my life as a wife and mother!